Padlocks

Most people can easily think of at least a few ways in which a good padlock would come in handy around the house. Preventing children from accessing your tool box, keeping valuable outdoor power equipment stored securely in your shed and locking up your bike are just a few applications for which padlocks can be used.

As the leading locksmith in the lower mainland, we carry a variety of types of padlocks in different sizes, and a variety of accessories such as padbars, shackle protectors and hasps to meet the different requirements of our customers. If you are looking for something specific, please contact us for a price quote.

In choosing a lock, you'll want to consider four primary factors ? where and how it's being used, the value you place on the property protected and therefore how secure you need it to be, whether or not it will be used indoors or outdoors and how you want the lock to be keyed. Padlocks can be Keyed Differently, Keyed Alike or Master Keyed.

Made from solid or alloyed steel, heavy-duty padlocks are built to withstand force. While brass is an excellent material for resisting weather and rust, it is a somewhat softer metal that may not withstand prying or cutting as well as harder steel. Steel or alloy padlocks can be covered with specially fitted plastic casings to help protect them from the elements.

We carry padlocks suitable for residential use, for automotive use and commercial padlocks including high security padlocks. We can provide you with a padlock that is keyed to your house key, so that you can use the same key as you use for your home. For commercial customers, we offer key control, so that you always know who has a key to open your padlocks, and limit access to authorised staff.

Combination padlocks are available with a dial design, or a thumb-rolled number pad on the side or the bottom of the lock. Combination locks are convenient, but that means memorizing a combination. You can choose combination padlocks that come with a fixed combination, or those that allow you to choose your own numbers. The latter are often re-settable, so you can change the combination at any time. As a locksmith, we warn people to be careful not to choose a combination that others can guess easily.

Locksmith Padlock Keying Options

Most padlocks are only opened by the specific key assigned to them or they are Keyed Different. However, it can sometimes be convenient to have all the padlocks in a set use the same key, Keyed Alike or be opened by a set of single keys and a Master Key.

The codes used are:

Keyed Different ? KD

Keyed Alike ? KA

Master Keyed - MK

Keyed Different

When they leave the factory a padlock is usually what we call "Keyed Different". This means that each one off the production line is produced with a locking mechanism at random.

Keyed Alike

For convenience many people will buy for example 10 padlocks and want them all to be identical and work from the same set of keys. These are known as 'Keyed Alike' padlocks. Since their cost is often only marginally more expensive than 'keyed different' types, they are highly popular.

A common question is whether or not this will comprise security since inevitably other people will be using the same keyed alike set. The answer is yes others will have the same set but you must remember that in security, convenience always comes at a price. This risk can be reduce though since the more premium brands of padlock will have many sets available, making this problem much less common.

Master Key

A 'Master Key' padlock is a unique padlock with its' own key but part of a larger set. The whole set then can be overridden by what is known as the 'Master-Key'.

Due to the complexity in creating this type of padlock they do cost significantly more than keyed alike/different padlocks. When security and convenience is essential, a master-key set-up is the ultimate option.

Each of our expert locksmith staff are skilled and knowledgeable and have been trained to assist you with your padlock needs. To guarantee that you will receive the best in advice, service and the finest in customer care and respect, that you, our customers deserves!

Please give us a call today, and one of our expert commercial locksmith staff can help you to assess your padlock needs and provide the solution you need.